We may now note a few of the more important landmarks in the history of county cricket. The question of qualification, as already stated, was raised as early as in 1868, for it was felt to be an abuse, as well as unfair to certain counties, that men should be allowed to represent two counties in one year; it was, however, an unwritten law that a man did not play against the county of his birth, even if he did not play for it. Thus Howitt, who was practically identified with Middlesex, did not play against his native Notts. Southerton, however, who played regularly for Surrey by the residential qualification, always represented Sussex against Surrey, often to the discomfiture of his foster-county. However, it was not till 1872 that formal legislation took place, when the following arrangements were made:— (1) No man to play for more than one county in the same year. (2) Any player with a double qualification to state at the beginning of each season for which of the counties he proposed to play. (3) Three years’ _bona fide_ residence to qualify professionals; two years sufficient for amateurs. These regulations were passed at Lord’s, but next year a meeting, held at the Oval, asked that the Lord’s authorities would put professionals and amateurs on the same footing, and two years of residence are now required of both alike. It was also enacted that under the term “residence” was included the parental roof, provided that it was open to a man as an occasional home. Lord Harris proposed in 1880 that the two years should be reduced to one, but did not carry his motion, though it was and is felt that in certain cases, _e.g._ in that of an Englishman born in India, or of an officer home on furlough, the rule bears rather hardly. It was further passed in 1898 that a man who had played for a particular county for five years was permanently qualified for it, provided that the series had not been broken by his playing for another. It seems hardly credible, considering what county cricket has grown to be, to hear that not till 1890 was any real classification of counties undertaken; however, it was at a meeting of the moribund Cricket Council, held at the Oval on 11th August, that eight counties were pronounced to be first-class, and to be the competitors for the championship in 1891. The sacred eight were:— Notts. Kent. Yorkshire. Lancashire. Middlesex. Sussex. Surrey. Gloucestershire.